Switzerland

The river Ticino (/tɪˈtʃiːnoʊ/ tih-CHEE-noh, Italian: [tiˈtʃiːno]; Lombard: Tesin; French and German: Tessin; Latin: Ticīnus) is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.

It is one of the four major rivers taking their source in the Gotthard region, along with the Rhône, Reuss and Rhine.The river rises in the Val Bedretto in Switzerland at the frontier between the cantons of Valais and Ticino right below the Nufenen Pass, is fed by the glaciers of the Alps and later flows through Lake Maggiore, which traverses the border to Italy. The Ticino joins the Po a few kilometres downstream (along the Ticino) from Pavia. It is about 248 kilometres (154 mi) long. The stretch of river between Lake Maggiore and the confluence in the Po is included in the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino, a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Italian Grisons or Italian Grigioni (Italian: Grigionitaliano or Grigioni italiano; German: Italienischbünden; Romansh: Grischun talian; French: Grisons italiens) or sometimes also called Lombard Grisons (Lombard: Grison lombard, lumbard; Romansh: Grischun lumbard), is the region of the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland, in which Italian is the dominant language.

Located in the southernmost part of the canton, it comprises (from west to east) of the region of Moesa, the municipality of Bregaglia in the Region of Maloja and the region of Bernina. It has a population of about 15,000, of which more than 85% speak standard Italian or Lombard. The village and former municipality in Bivio in the district of Albula, located to the north of Bregaglia, once had an Italian-speaking plurality as well. Between 1980 and 1990, however, it was overtaken by German, which is now the majority language of the village.

A neutral country is a sovereign state that is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts (including avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO, CSTO or the SCO). As a type of non-combatant status, nationals of neutral countries enjoy protection under the law of war from belligerent actions to a greater extent than other non-combatants such as enemy civilians and prisoners of war. Different countries interpret their neutrality differently: some, such as Costa Rica have demilitarized, while Switzerland holds to "armed neutrality", to deter aggression with a sizeable military, while barring itself from foreign deployment.

Not all neutral countries avoid any foreign deployment or alliances, as Austria and Ireland have active UN peacekeeping forces and a political alliance within the European Union. Sweden's traditional policy was not to participate in military alliances, with the intention of staying neutral in the case of war. Immediately before World War II, the Nordic countries stated their neutrality, but Sweden changed its position to that of non-belligerent at the start of the Winter War. Sweden would uphold its policy of neutrality until the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the Cold War, former Yugoslavia claimed military and ideological neutrality from both the Western and Eastern Bloc, becoming a co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) (French: École Suisse d'Archéologie en Grèce; German: Schweizer Archäologische Schule in Griechenland; Italian: Scuola Elvetica d'Archeologia in Grecia; Greek: Ελβετική Αρχαιολογική Σχολή στην Ελλάδα) is one of the foreign archaeological institutes operating in Greece. Since 1964, the Swiss archaeologists have been excavating the remains of the ancient site of Eretria (Euboea), a medium-sized city which has extensively contributed to the development and the influence of the Greek civilisation. Hosted in Switzerland by the University of Lausanne, the Swiss School has its head office in Athens, in an Art Nouveau building at Odos Skaramanga 4B. The school has also offices in a 19th-century neoclassical house in Eretria, Odos Apostoli 15.

A parliamentary republic with an executive presidency, is a form of parliamentary democracy in which the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the confidence of the legislature to which it is held accountable, but is characterized by a combined head of state–head of government in the form of an executive president who carries out both functions. This is in contrast to conventional parliamentary systems (be it in a monarchy or a republic) where the executive is separate from the head of state, and a presidential system where the executive is separate from the legislature. The president is typically elected by the legislature and must maintain its confidence to remain in office, for which purpose they may be required to hold a seat.

This method of presidential election is distinct from an assembly-independent republic, in which either the combined head of state and government (as in the Federated States of Micronesia) or the directorial executive (as in Switzerland) are elected by the legislature but are not accountable to it. It is also distinct from the semi-presidential system (in particular, the 'president-parliamentary' variant), in which the president as head of state is independent of the legislature, while the head of government is subject to parliamentary confidence.

A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes an embassy or high commission, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state's capital city.

Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that are normally located in major cities of the receiving state (but can be located in the capital, typically when the sending country has no embassy in the receiving state). In addition to being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is located, an embassy may also be a non-resident permanent mission to one or more other countries.

Diplomatic relations between France and Switzerland have traditionally been close, through important economic and cultural exchanges. Switzerland and France (which is part of the European Union), share about 600 km of border (prompting strong cross-border cooperation) and a language (French is one of Switzerland's four official languages).

French-Swiss relations date back to the Middle Ages, when the Kingdom of France and the Old Swiss Confederacy established close contacts. The good neighborly relations ended when revolutionary France invaded Switzerland and established the Helvetic Republic in 1798. Switzerland remained a French vassal state until 1813. At the Congress of Vienna, Switzerland was granted small areas of French territory as compensation and Swiss independence was restored. After that, France respected Swiss neutrality and relations remained peaceful. In the early 21st century, both countries maintain friendly relations.

Glarus (Swiss Standard German: [ˈɡlaːrʊs] ; Alemannic German: Glaris; French: Glaris [ɡlaʁis]; Italian: Glarona; Romansh: Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality of Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.

Glarus lies on the river Linth between the foot of the Glärnisch (part of the Schwyzer Alps) to the west and the Schilt (Glarus Alps) to the east. Very few buildings built before the fire of 1861 remain. Wood, textile, and plastics, as well as printing, are the dominant industries. The symbol of the city is the neo-Romanesque city church.

Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden (German: Kanton Appenzell Innerrhoden [ˈapn̩tsɛl ˈɪnərˌroːdn̩] ; Romansh: Chantun Appenzell Dadens; French: Canton d'Appenzell Rhodes-Intérieures; Italian: Canton Appenzello Interno), in English sometimes Appenzell Inner-Rhodes, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. The seat of the government and parliament is Appenzell. It is traditionally considered a "half-canton", the other half being Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

Appenzell Innerrhoden is the smallest canton of Switzerland by population and the second smallest by area. It is located in the northeast of the country. Together with the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, it forms an enclave within the canton of St. Gallen. The canton is essentially located in the Alpine foothills of the Alpstein massif, culminating at the Säntis.

Districts of Switzerland are a political subdivision for cantons. In the federally constituted Switzerland, each canton is completely free to decide its own internal organisation. Therefore, there exists a variety of structures and terminology for the subnational entities between canton and municipality, loosely termed districts. Most cantons are divided into Bezirke (German for districts, singular Bezirk). They are also termed Ämter (Lucerne, singular Amt), Amtsbezirke (Bern, Amtsbezirk), district (in French) or distretto (Ticino and part of Graubünden). The Bezirke generally provide only administration and court organization. However, for historical reasons districts in cantons Grisons and Schwyz are their own legal entities with jurisdiction over tax and often have their own Landsgemeinde.

Seven of the 26 cantons – Uri, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus, Zug, Basel-City and Geneva – have always existed without the district level of government. An eighth one, Appenzell Innerrhoden, uses no intermediate level either, but calls its lowest-level subdivisions Bezirke, although they are functionally equivalent to municipalities elsewhere.